The comments are worth reading too.

This must be serious because it has gotten folks on the warpath.

Florida has Banned the use of drones from a "foreign country of concern"
(that means China, which means DJI) by state and local government
agencies. So far, private citizens can still fly DJI, but this is a HUGE
precedence. Plus, other states (Arkansas for one) are starting to follow. 
The states doing this individually is a shout out to ban DJI that wasn't
there when the first bill died in committee. 

florida DJI drone ban - Google Search

Yes, this takes out hundreds or maybe thousands of DJI of customers
and no telling how many actual drones. Oh, but not a big deal, right?
Yes, maybe it is. With the states starting to ban DJI, do you think that
the Federal Congress will take notice. Hmmm. 

Plus, I get am getting the feeling that more and more people (Karens)
are getting upset by the drones flying over residential areas. It doesn't
matter what the capability of the drone, people don't like them. So, I
wonder how this will play into it. 

Another Pilot Institute video:



Just maybe, there is more cause for concern this time around.

(06-Jun-2023, 12:12 PM)iFly4rotors Wrote: Just maybe, there is more cause for concern this time around.

I'll be real with you. I hope your faith in the system is correct. My optimism hasn't had a great time after becoming more and more aware of how rampant corruption is.

Hi Suros,

I do realize that there is a lot of corruption, but that can happen with any system, 
regardless of how well put together. The system works, yet, depends on who is 
running it. Still, it is "we the people" who vote the politicians into office, yet, we
complain when they, as a collective, do something that we (or at least some of us)
don't like.  Sure, there are a lot of influences, but, are they all bad. In my 71 years,
things seem to go pretty good for the most part. Yes, you get some quack in office 
that wants to shut down the petroleum industry, so there is that. That said, most of 
the laws seem to be pretty fair and reasonable. Yet, sometimes they don't. I hear folks
cry about the corruption in government and, YES, there is corruption in government.
Funny thing is, "we" don't make a peep unless a law is passed that we don't like, THEN
we cry corruption. Yet, we don't really have any proof of specific corruption or the 
corruption that we don't like, yet, we don't mind it when things are going our way.

As with any outcome, some people like it and some don't. It is never a one sided thing. 

Consider that the good of the many outweighs the good of the few. Even though there 
are thousands of DJI products and maybe they aren't hurting anything, that is still a 
"drop in the bucket" to the population at large. What does the population at large want??
They want to be safe from those pesky drones flying around just above them doing who
knows what. Yes, they DO have a voice regardless of how "we" feel about it. Yes, we
have a voice. Write your congressman, contact others, enlist people to oppose this
new bill. 

Consider that things seem to go mostly pretty good in spite of that.  Moreover,
what do we do? If we don't like it, then we should vote differently. Every person has
things that we like and some we don't. Pick the lesser of two evils and vote accordingly.

I do have faith in the system. I do have more faith in some people than in others.
I do believe that there is more good in the system even with the corruption. I do
believe that the particulars change as the politicians are voted in or out. 

In this case, is it really about corruption or perhaps just about what is being proposed.

Anyway, Later, My Friend, iFly  

Maybe this plays into it and maybe it doesn't, but here it is anyway:

When I read up on this, I was like good, LOL! I've been into this hobby since well before DJI phantom 1 even existed, and I'm still fine rockin' all analog for what I do. From my experience, the guy with all the DJI quads is the same guy that ruined the hobby for the rest of us. Anyone who is in the hobby long enough has probably observed the same trend. Anyhow, IMHO DJI goggles aren't worth pandering to companies that don't play by the rules and respect written laws. The text to speech video didn't help convince me otherwise.

Yeah, I get it, but at least our cell phones are NOT out flying over people's heads
and making them very uncomfortable. However, I do get your point. The real
point is that if we ban everything that is made in China, then we will NOT have
anything.  

The only real point here is that there is currently a movement in the U.S. Congress
to Ban all DJI gear. The only recourse at this point is to write your representative
and get others to do the same. 

Hi Audax,

I TOTALLY AGREE.  

From what I have seen in 71 years, the vast majority of the people have no issues with
things, except, of course, a few specific groups that believe they have been short changed,
however, that is more perception and focused on race (an now, maybe gender identity), 
not politics.

It is only when a law get's passed that someone doesn't like that they yell corruption.
However, that is often just because it effects them. No one else cares. If a poll was taken
from the general population of the USA, we might find that there are MORE People in favor
of the ban of DJI gear than there are against the ban. 

While there is a certain amount of "corruption" in everything, I still believe that most of the
congressmen are decent people that we voted into office. 

Thank You, My Friend, iFly 

Cool.    We just have different perspectives, however, that is OK. 

IntoFPV is a Happy Place for me. 

I have been able to both benefit and share. This is a good place. 

Cheers. Have a NICE day.

Later, Mate, iFly 

Lot of tin foil hats being worn in here. Drone talk is fine and all, but some of you are teetering on that fine line a little too much. Stop now and come back to reality. For everyones sake.

(11-Jun-2023, 01:05 PM)Pennywise Wrote: Lot of tin foil hats being worn in here. Drone talk is fine and all, but some of you are teetering on that fine line a little too much. Stop now and come back to reality. For everyones sake.

Exactly, our elected and unelected officials will surely make right call when it comes to common sense drone legislation.

… My “drones” now identify as “quad copters”…

Hi All,

I am getting the feeling that this just MIGHT be a Big Deal as YouTube seems
to be having more and more videos (and HOT, I might add) about it. Lot's of
Rant, Lot's of Heat, Lot's of opinions. I wonder if all this will really help. I didn't
bother to post any here since all you have to do is go to YouTube.

My question is this: Who is in second place to fill DJI's "shoes" should this Ban
actually go through?? Where will the replacement come from?? Surely, some
company will be able to step up. After all, most of DJI's features are software,
programming, right?? Let's get some American Companies to step up to the
plate here. Oh yeah, investors as well. This could be a HUGE opportunity for
someone. Will somebody get to work on "Clean Room" duplicating the features.

Rather than getting into a political rant, let's consider other, non DJI,  
options and how to proceed. 

I'm very much against buying DJI products for their style of device management, but I see little reason to consider a ban. The average smartphone is vastly more viable as a compromised/backdoored spy/sabotage device. They're more likely to be powered, have better wireless communications, and are found basically anywhere you can find a person. The only way I can see such a ban going into effect is by people not being informed about the viability of domestic quadcopters being used by enemy organizations. Most quads are unpowered most of the time, are rarely near anything critical, and the worst one could do is crash land into something. It's not like a hacker will have enough time to work when one is near something. The only time I've seen a good hack using a quad was when somebody strapped a battery powered Raspberry Pi onto a Mavic Mini and landed on a bank.

For what purpose are they attempting to ban these? If they don't have a good reason, it's nothing more than a financial burden on those that invested in that stuff.

If we can keep the political crap out of it from here on out, I’ll actually chime in more on this thread- the political crap just makes me angry and unnecessarily raises my already high blood pressure. This is my happy place, too.

So, here’s my thoughts, for whatever their worth:

Please correct me if I’m misinterpreting this.

That senate and house bill is to (summary):
“To amend the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 to provide for the addition of certain equipment and services produced or provided by DJI Technologies to the list of covered communications equipment or services published under such Act, and for other purposes.“

Summary of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019:
“An act to prohibit certain Federal subsidies from being used to purchase communications equipment or services posing national security risks, to provide for the establishment of a reimbursement program for the replacement of communications equipment or services posing such risks, and for other purposes.”
Link to the Act: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW...20purposes.

I read that as, if the bill became law, “government man’s money can’t be spent on dji equipment or services in the future, and any federal, state, or county agency that have dji equipment or services will need to find appropriate replacements, potentially on government man’s dime”.

I’m failing to see how this will effect consumers or hobbyists. Don’t get me wrong, it will absolutely suck for agencies that rely on dji drones for things like search and rescue- basically, the whole country will be in the position that agencies in Florida currently are, since they passed a similar state level law recently.

By all means, reach out to your representatives and tell them you are against this. There aren’t many suitable options for agencies to use other than DJI, and if I get lost in the woods, I certainly want my local forest rangers to be able to use any tech available to find my dumbass, including a dji drone with a thermal camera.

But, this isn’t a ban our hobby kind of thing, or even a restrict what we can use in our hobby kind of thing, or really even have any effect whatsoever on our hobby kind of thing, at least not as I read it.
———————-

What I’m about to say is not part of that bill, and is not being proposed or even considered, but let’s take it to the extreme as a thought experiment-

Even if DJI were to be put on the Entity List like Huawei, that’s simply a trade ban. It would only mean that companies that do business in the US can’t do business with or partner with DJI, and DJI couldn’t buy parts and components from US companies. So for example, Fatshark couldn’t do a collaborative effort with DJI, to make the next version of their “in-house developed” goggles.

As a consumer, I can still legally purchase, own, and use a Huawei smartphone in the US even though it is “banned”. I can buy one on Amazon, or multiple other places. I could legally buy one straight from China. Importing them, and selling them, is legal.

If I wanted to use one of their phones, the only downside would be that current generation Huawei smartphones can’t access the Google App Store, because Google can’t legally work with Huawei.

Relating this to DJI, if it were put on the entity list, well, correct me if I’m wrong, but, DJI doesn’t like to play with others or share its tech anyway, right? The most that it would mean would be that a company like Caddx couldn’t cut a deal to continue to make their version of Vistas, etc.- but I don’t see Caddx wanting to do something like that anyhow, because now they have Walksnail. Foxeer is starting to put out HDzero stuff.

DJI seems pretty happy making and selling their own products, and consumers and hobbyists could legally continue to use and purchase dji products through retailers or direct from China, because importing them would still be legal.

In this thought experiment of DJI being added to the Entity List (and once again, this is NOT being considered in these bills- this is just a take it to the extreme “what-if”), there is one major impact it would have on the consumer: while we could still legally import DJI products, we could not return those DJI products to DJI or any of their affiliates without approval from the US government- not even for a repair.

I’m often wrong, and I’ll be the first to tell you I don’t know wtf I’m talking about, so, don’t take anything I’ve said in this post as gospel.